The Dark Knight Rises

The tie-in book The Dark Knight Rises: The Secret Files Scrapbook has descriptions of the movie's two main new characters. First up is Bane:

Little is known about Bane. He was born in prison and trained in the darkest forms of deception by the League of Shadows, but rumor has it he was cast out due to his extreme behavior. Bane is a ferocious hand-to-hand fighter who is willing to do anything in order to take down his opponents. Bane is in peak physical shape, but he must wear a breathing apparatus that feeds him with pain relieving gas due to an old injury. He's never been photographed without his mask and only a handful of people have seen his face. While his true motives remain a mystery, he appears to be building an army of followers in the dark tunnels underneath Gotham in order to create his own League of Shadows.

Next up is Catwoman, or as the book prefers to refer to her as, Selina Kyle:

Selina Kyle is a world-class cat burglar and mistress of disguise. She's cunning and devious, but has a deep sense of honor. As Catwoman, she targets Gotham's wealthiest. Her weapons usually include infrared goggles, bladed high-heel boots, and a belt filled with lock picks.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Star Trek 2

Cowriter Damon Lindelof discusses what's changed in Star Trek 2:

I think that the first one was in a lot of ways an origin story. It was about how the crew comes together and a love story between how Kirk met Spock. How this emotional guy who thinks only with his heart befriends this logical guy who thinks only with his mind. And this next movie is about what it's like now that these people are a crew.

How is Captain Kirk different this time around?
Kirk is now in the Captain's chair, for the first time, not having shanghaied it. And he has to learn how to manage his responsibilities as a captain with these friendships and relationships that he's forming with these people around him. And I think also we're introducing what is a very cool and nuanced force of antagonism that's a little different from the first movie, which was just a steaming Romulan ball of rage that needs to be stopped at all costs.

Prometheus

Justice League

Wanted and Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar says a friend of his has seen a draft of Gangster Squad writer William Beall's draft of the new Justice League project. So, keeping in mind that this is a secondhand report on a draft that will likely change extensively between now and when Warner Bros. gives up again production starts, here's what Millar had to say:

"A pal of mine is good friends with the new Justice League screenwriter and said his take on the team is incredible. Very real-world and not at all what you might expect. WB has a chequered history with their superhero characters. They're great with their boy wizards, but less consistent with their DC stable. But my chum said that this could be a thing of beauty and has been in the works for a little while now, not just an avengers knock-off. Best of luck to them. The tidbits I heard sound quite dark and mature, which isn't what I expected. But word on Gangster Squad is great too so I feel this is in really good hands."

Catching Fire

Whether you believe this or not is entirely up to you, but producer Nina Jacobsen says there's no shortlist for the part of Finnick Odair, which means by extension that The Social Network's Armie Hammer and Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund are not two of the names on that short list. Whether the denial is entirely true or not, the fact that she's making it all probably either means they're looking at a name that hasn't yet been rumored, or perhaps that the choice for Finnick is still a ways off. In both cases, this might well mean bad news for the chances of those previously rumored names, even if that shortlist does indeed exist. [/Film]

Skyfall

Here's the latest production blog video from the new James Bond movie, featuring plenty of behind-the-scenes footage.

Noah

Harry Potter star Emma Watson is reportedly in talks to play the love interest of Noah's son Shem in Darren Aronofosky's epic adaptation of the Bible story. Shem is being played by Watson's The Perks of Being a Wallflower costar Douglas Booth. It's unclear what this means for Hanna star Saoirse Ronan, who has long been attached to this movie in an unspecified role - if this was the role she was going to play, then it probably means she's out. [Deadline]

Cosmopolis

David Cronenberg's adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel - starring Twilight's Robert Pattinson, lest we forget - has received an American release date — and, by "American", I mean "only New York and Los Angeles" — of August 17. It's got a decent chance of expanding to wider release in the following weeks. [Fangoria]

Twilight Zone

Leonardo DiCaprio's production company is supposedly making a new Twilight Zone movie, and now Joby Harold, who wrote the script for Tom Cruise's upcoming time-loop war movie All You Need is Kill, has reportedly been hired to write the script. [Variety]

Ninja Turtles

Battle: Los Angeles director Jonathan Liebesman's new Ninja Turtles movie — in which the turtles might be the mutated offspring of aliens somehow rather than just mutants — will reportedly start filming towards the end of this summer in Vancouver. [The Province]

Pinocchio

Doctor Who

There's a bunch of casting and writer updates to go through, so let's blast through all the latest news. First up, the episode currently filming with new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman is reportedly not her introductory episode, the 2012 Christmas Special, but rather a later episode (either the episode immediately after or the eleventh of the series, depending on which source you prefer). The episode is written by Luther creator Neil Cross, features a guest turn from Mission: Impossible 2 villain Dougray Scott, and judging by set photos seems to feature a weird mix of Victorian and mid-20th century fashions. [Blogtor Who and Life, Doctor Who, and Combom]

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Episode four, which is one of two episodes this series penned by "42" and "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" writer Chris Chibnall, features guest turns from Beverly Hills Cop villain Steven Berkoff and Bramwell star Jemma Redgrave. The episode is reportedly called "Cubed" and features the return of Harry Potter's Mark Williams as Rory's dad Brian and Stephen Blything as Henry VIII. Here's a description of what reportedly happens in the episode:

In the story, a house is raided by UNIT soldiers who might confiscate the Cubes referred to in the title. Whilst being held in UNIT headquarters the Cubes begin to countdown. But the question is: What happens when their countdown is complete?

Episode five sees the departure of the Ponds and the returns of River Song and the Weeping Angels. We can now add to that mix Rome's Rob David as a character called Sam Garner and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves actor Michael McShane as a villain of some sort. Also, Caitlin Blackwood, who plays young Amelia Pond, would only say, "Spoilers!" when asked if she would make a final return appearance on the show. Not exactly a yes, but hardly a no, and if it's going to happen, it will pretty much definitely be in the five episodes featuring Amy and Rory. [Doctor Who News]

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Rupert Graves, who brings an understated brand of awesome to his role as DCI LeStrade on Sherlock, discusses his appearance in the second episode of series seven:

Yeah, he's umm… he's a, he's a big game hunter … he's in Africa, and there's umm, some kind of history behind him and the doctor, although it's never fully explained what … he's there to help the doctor.

He's there to help the doctor, or is it a bit of both, you helping the doctor, and him helping you?
I'm going to help the doctor.

Right.. so, is there a possibility you may be returning?
I've no idea, no I don't think there is actually.

This is the episode rumored to be called "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" - Steven Moffat has at least gone so far as to say this episode has one of his favorite titles ever - and that might tie into Graves's character's big game hunting. The episode also features Mark Williams again as Rory's dad and Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti. [Rupert-Graves.com]

True Blood

Kristin Bauer van Straten discusses what's ahead for Pam this season:

"Pam will go to any length to be reunited with her maker. Any length. And we're going to see it. Pam has an amazing arc because we get to see her backstory and how she was made. It explains why Pam is the way she is and also why Eric is her one person that she can't live without."

American Horror Story

Creator Ryan Murphy reveals how he plans to use returning cast members Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe, Evan Peters, and Sarah Paulson — not to mention Jessica Lange, who is now officially the show's star — will be playing in their new roles:

"I don't want to say what Zach and Lily are doing, or what anybody else is doing, until we get closer to [fall]. But I'll continue to say that everybody is playing the opposite of what they played last year, which I think is why they're all so into it. Like, I have talked to Zach and Jessica and they were very excited… and that's a rare thing."

Young Justice

Here are some promo images and a short description for this Saturday's episode, "Depths": "Artemis rejoins the team to defend a critical satellite launch - but will her first mission back also be her last?" [KSiteTV]

Tron Uprising

Titular star Bruce Boxleitner discusses the show and his role as Tron:

"The animated series has lessons in it, but I think this is something that all Tron fans will enjoy. It's not a kiddie show. It's the next facet of the Tron mythology... I do know, because [Tron: Uprising] falls between the first movie and Tron: Legacy, where ultimately he's going to end up: wearing that black suit and working for the man...Tron, he's never going to be Flynn. And as a human, Alan Bradley doesn't have a lot of humor either."

You can also check out an interview with Lance Henriksen, who plays the villainous General Tessler, here. [/Film]

The Vampire Diaries

Showrunner Julie Plec talks about what's next for Bonnie, and why she's worried about retreading Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

"To be truthful, a lot of debates go on in our [writers'] room about whether to take Bonnie to to the dark side and the biggest thing that prevents us from doing that is not wanting to feel like we're foliowing Willow's journey. She's tapped into some darker stuff…I don't know which way we'll go with her in season four. Do you go down a road even though people did it really well, do you really want to do that? Or do you ignore what other people did and do it because it's right for the character? I'm interested to see where we land on that as writers."

Elsewhere, Plec discusses what's ahead for season four and why Elena's coming transformation is so crucial:

It felt like we could just go balls to the wall and because in a way when we start over again, we're starting over-we're starting a new story. Same world, same characters, same feelings, same everything but for our ingénue, and our heroine, we are beginning. It is a beginning for her and what was exciting about it is we knew we were going to do it and so everything we did all year long was leading up to this. This is a girl who misses her parents, this is a girl who regrets the person that she has become and wonders if her parents would be ashamed of her. This is a girl who is trying desperately to hold onto a friendship that reminds her of when she was human. And all that stuff, the Wickery Bridge stuff, everything was all leading knowing that at the end we were going to her driving off the bridge again. And then when we started breaking the fourth season, it makes everything feel so new and so fresh and so, in that way, it takes us back to that great feeling of the beginning of that first season where it's about a girl with a secret and it's a becoming, it's a transition; it makes it all so grounded in character and more interpersonal suspense than big bold epic mythology. We get to start season four with a nice intimate, intelligent, character-driven point of view and then grow from there.

In your mythology, when a person transitions into a vampire, their most dominant trait as a human is amplified. Do you guys already know which trait of Elena's will become more prominent post-transition?
Yeah, we do and that's a lot of what we've layered in this year as well. When Elijah (Daniel Gillies) says, "Your compassion is your greatest gift," that was very much said as a reminder that that is who this girl is. Her compassion is her gift and her Achilles heel. She is fiercely loyal, fiercely protective, and very, very compassionate to those around her in that she can see the good and the bad. When all that stuff gets amplified, it's going to make her, hopefully, kind of a badass, you know? Like, imagine Elena who is willing to stand up and fight the good fight for her brother and for her friends as a human-imagine her now with supernatural abilities. So in a fun way, it's like the birth of a supernatural heroine and with Buffy being the beautiful foundation of that kind of character and Sydney Bristow in Alias, it's a whole new world to explore, so we're kind of excited about that.